The firm said "Bring Your Own Device" policies have helped to open up IT departments to Macs, iPhones and iPads. Other factors cited as reasons for the growth include small businesses buying Macs and iPads for employees to use at home and work and IT departments' shifts toward mobile with the iPhone and iPad.

According to the survey, the business sector will buy $10 billion worth of iPads this year, up from $6 billion in 2011. IT departments are also projected to spend $9 billion on Macs in 2012, up from $6 billion in 2011. Mac and iPad spending will rise to $12 billion and $16 billion, respectively in 2013, according to the survey.

Apple revealed last October that 93 percent of the Fortune 500 were deploying or testing the iPhone during the September quarter, up from 91 percent in the second quarter of calendar 2011. As for iPads, 90 percent of the Fortune 500 are deploying or testing Apple's touchscreen tablet as of the September quarter.

The rise in corporate spending on Apple comes as Windows-based computer purchases are expected to decline slightly over the next two years. Forrester sees business and government sales of Windows PCs and tablets falling three percent in 2012 and another one percent in 2013.

To conduct the survey, Forrester interviewed 46 IT vendors, and studied large corporate or institutional purchasers, including U.S. and international government agencies.

For years, Forrester was critical of Macs in the business sector, but it began encouraging companies to "repeal prohibition" on Macs in the enterprise last October. The research firm found that 41 percent of enterprises had blocked Macs from access to any company resources.

In November, The New York Times claimed that Apple's new CEO Tim Cook has made enterprise customers "more at ease" with the company than late co-founder Steve Jobs.

"(Cook) met more frequently with corporate customers and seemed to appreciate their needs, even if he did not deviate from Mr. Jobs's views about making consumers the priority when making Apple products," the report said.

I hate using my work windoze 7 machine by HP. It's slow, ugly, dull and the track pad is shit. But there are some Microsoft applications that are really good. Outlook is brilliant and the integrated CRM module (Dynamics) is good too. Until Apple integrate back end systems with user machines as well as Microsoft, it won't beat windows. Just keep nipping at their heels.

I hate using my work windoze 7 machine by HP. It's slow, ugly, dull and the track pad is shit. But there are some Microsoft applications that are really good. Outlook is brilliant and the integrated CRM module (Dynamics) is good too. Until Apple integrate back end systems with user machines as well as Microsoft, it won't beat windows. Just keep nipping at their heels.

I hate using my work windoze 7 machine by HP. It's slow, ugly, dull and the track pad is shit. But there are some Microsoft applications that are really good. Outlook is brilliant and the integrated CRM module (Dynamics) is good too. Until Apple integrate back end systems with user machines as well as Microsoft, it won't beat windows. Just keep nipping at their heels.

Bouncerman

If you look at the chart in the 5 years 2008 to 2013 Windows based device sales have stagnated at around $68 billion.

Apple products, on the other hand have grown from just $2 billion a year in 2008 to a projected $28 billion in 2013 i.e. from less than 3% of Windows in 2008 to over 41% in 2013.

I would hardly describe that performance as "nipping" at Windows heels!

Incidentally Outllook has been available on Macs for years - its part of the Mac Office Suite.

Check with CRM because they may have a Mac version of what you need. I know that they are making a big effort converting their stuff for iPads.

Say goodbye to the tedium and loss of productivity of Windows and join the modern era with Apple!

That's what Forrester now say having reversed their advice not to use Macs!

This is why big screen Apple TV (iBoard) will be important. Give them a super easy to use with SIRI-controlled big touch-screen panel for the whole meeting room that works seamlessly with everyone's iPad and Apple will sell much more gears to the enterprise.

I hate using my work windoze 7 machine by HP. It's slow, ugly, dull and the track pad is shit. But there are some Microsoft applications that are really good. Outlook is brilliant and the integrated CRM module (Dynamics) is good too. Until Apple integrate back end systems with user machines as well as Microsoft, it won't beat windows. Just keep nipping at their heels.

You could do what I do, which is run Windows 7 in a Fusion 4 VM on my iMac. Of course, your company's management would never permit the infiltration of Mac into their Windows tunnel vision, and that will not change any time soon, especially in the larger enterprises that can cut some pretty sweet deals with major PC manufacturers.

I hate using my work windoze 7 machine by HP. It's slow, ugly, dull and the track pad is shit. But there are some Microsoft applications that are really good. Outlook is brilliant and the integrated CRM module (Dynamics) is good too. Until Apple integrate back end systems with user machines as well as Microsoft, it won't beat windows. Just keep nipping at their heels.

Outlook good!??!!!? Microsoft Outlook is one of the worst applications ever. It is a bloated, slow pig. The mail interface is a complete disaster. Search is completely broken. And their CRM product is a complete joke? Have you every used these products? Salesforce is light years ahead of the Great Plains, i mean Microsoft CRM.

Where I work (a company with between 500 and 1000 employees, skewed towards PhD types), there is a great deal of dissatisfaction with IT. We are a "Windows-only" shop (except for me -- ha ha, suckers), but I don't know if the dissatisfaction can necessarily be blamed on Microsoft or if we just happen to have uniquely bad IT leadership (the "grunts" are basically good guys, I think -- but the leadership has its head up its a$$). Either way, though, we are a company where a lot of employees are very dissatisfied and interested in shaking up IT. I could easily imagine that will eventually include the addition of more Apple products into the mix. And if adding Apple products to the mix ends up reducing dissatisfaction... well, watch out MS.

If you look at the chart in the 5 years 2008 to 2013 Windows based device sales have stagnated at around $68 billion.

Apple products, on the other hand have grown from just $2 billion a year in 2008 to a projected $28 billion in 2013 i.e. from less than 3% of Windows in 2008 to over 41% in 2013.

I would hardly describe that performance as "nipping" at Windows heels!

Incidentally Outllook has been available on Macs for years - its part of the Mac Office Suite.

Years? You mean since last year? Microsoft also dragged their heels for 6 months after launch and Outlook couldn't sync with any devices (except via exchange). They finally fixed that last spring. Office 2011 was the first with Outlook though. To say otherwise as you did suggests you don't really know what you're talking about.

My work's IT director has been notoriously anti-Apple in the past. Given the adoption of iPads by our sales and marketing departments, he's coming around. He actually came by my office last week to show me he had given up his Blackberry for an iPhone.

I think as management sees how well Apple products integrate, IT departments will be expected to streamline. Rather than having to purchase dozens of devices, an iPhone/iPad or MacBook Air/AppleTV could be used for nearly any presentation by our companies representatives with very little technical training needed.

After several years of Federal restrictions that only allowed us to use completely locked down BBs, we are finally seeing the inevitable transition to iPhones and iPads. Even better, these interface to our secure networks, exchange servers etc. via a secure app that includes email, browser, file access and remote adminstration of the enterprise (but not the personal) data on the phone, so that in all other respects they are fully functional devices. This is a huge step forwards.

Hopefully Apple will get serious about the enterprisexand re-release the Xserve while continuing to update the Mac Pro.

No chance they rerelease- They wouldn't resurrect. It'd be more believable for them to make a new one altogether. But I still think that's highly unlikely.

Quote:

Originally Posted by matrix07

This is why big screen Apple TV (iBoard) will be important. Give them a super easy to use with SIRI-controlled big touch-screen panel for the whole meeting room that works seamlessly with everyone's iPad and Apple will sell much more gears to the enterprise.

Apple TV2 can do this now- just use AirPlay. No need for Siri when you can just swipe to the next slide instead of holding a button and saying "next, next". Lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullhead

Outlook good!??!!!? Microsoft Outlook is one of the worst applications ever. It is a bloated, slow pig. The mail interface is a complete disaster. Search is completely broken. And their CRM product is a complete joke? Have you every used these products? Salesforce is light years ahead of the Great Plains, i mean Microsoft CRM.

Outlook is pretty clunky and bloated, and unfortunately, still the standard. I found it awesome that apple Mail on Lion is now basically outlook without the fat. Pretty streamlined. I've never tried sales force, I might give it a trial.

Quote:

Originally Posted by F1Ferrari

My work's IT director has been notoriously anti-Apple in the past. Given the adoption of iPads by our sales and marketing departments, he's coming around. He actually came by my office last week to show me he had given up his Blackberry for an iPhone.

I think as management sees how well Apple products integrate, IT departments will be expected to streamline. Rather than having to purchase dozens of devices, an iPhone/iPad or MacBook Air/AppleTV could be used for nearly any presentation by our companies representatives with very little technical training needed.

No doubt- great point. That's where it starts and why I think Apple has a chance in enterprise, iPhones and iPads change business owners and IT pro's minds. My brother (a marine and not a computer guy) was on year 4 of his blackberry (not using upgrades) and I was nagging him to death about getting an iPhone. He got one Christmas when his BB finally gave up. Stayed up until 3am playing with it (he's 30, not 12- lol). I asked him a week later how he liked his phone. "This isn't JUST a phone". Some people need to see to believe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sippincider

Apple: now that you're making roads into enterprise (again), please don't mess it up (again).

Things may be different with the iPad, but Apple has a reputation for leaving customers cold. Anyone who invested heavily in Xserve or Final Cut Pro knows this only too well.

Unfortunately, that's going to be a tough obstacle to overcome. I believe the article is right- Cook seems to be more understandable and stable than Jobs, which is good and bad, but enterprise would definately be much more at ease with cook at the helm. The bad part is that any business owner that knows jobs and cooks personality is likely an apple fan already and already on a Mac. Most business owners know cook is the CEO of apple but couldn't pick him out of a lineup.

I have long thought that the primary reason IT people resist converting to Apple products is because they know that their jobs might be in trouble if they change. Just think about the number of times you have had to call IT for problems that either you have never seen on your Mac or which if encountered can be easily fixed yourself.

I was pretty close to a few of the IT people at my company and when I asked them candidly about this they basically confirmed my suspicion. Many of them also confirmed that they used Macs at home.

I think as management sees how well Apple products integrate, IT departments will be expected to streamline.

One word: winmail.dat.

If you want another one, go for umask.

Apple products don't integrate easily, because of the monolithic nature of the windows franchise in most enterprise settings.

While I am staunchly pro-apple, pro-Linux, and my tech-savvy business partner is at least pro-Linux, we still can't avoid having one windows server in the office, or an IE-dependent "web application" for accounting.

Streamlining points the other direction. The reason to go Apple (in a heterogeneous setting) is to maintain flexibility.

If Apple go for business they should buy Parallel desktop and offer business Macs with build in coherence mode windows and linux. You need a machine that will be able to run anything you throw at it, all on the mac desktop like its a native app. Where I work, we still have legacy apps that need win XP and DOS. It will be a huge plus to be able to run unix apps on the users machines. Most enterprise have windows desktop PC'S for users, unix servers and IBM mainframes or AS400.

They would also need to build an easy to maintain desktop mac. Something between the mac mini and the mac pro. On the other hand, the mac mini with no cd could be a nice all around desk pc (IT loves comp that are close down to users, users installing crap on there pcs is a major problem for IT). Apple would also need a small low cost monitor.

I am sure Apple could do great in enterprise if they are serious about it. But they would need to hire senior IT managers with real world experience in multi-OS environments to have a better understanding of what IT really needs.

IT need something that is close down to users BUT completely open to them.

I have long thought that the primary reason IT people resist converting to Apple products is because they know that their jobs might be in trouble if they change. Just think about the number of times you have had to call IT for problems that either you have never seen on your Mac or which if encountered can be easily fixed yourself.

There will never be a shortage of problems no matter what OS is running...

This is why big screen Apple TV (iBoard) will be important. Give them a super easy to use with SIRI-controlled big touch-screen panel for the whole meeting room that works seamlessly with everyone's iPad and Apple will sell much more gears to the enterprise.

There is some sweetness in that idea. Keynote. Easy. No fussing around with whacky adapters, funky remotes, bad projectors, finding input sources. I swear we seem to waste 10 minutes every time we need to hook into the projector.

Outlook couldn't sync with any devices (except via exchange). They finally fixed that last spring.

Outlook doesn't sync with the Nokia Lumia 800. They don't have any understanding of what a user might want to do with a phone. Or Outlook. Nope, to me, Outlook is total crap. The interface is ok, but the usability is, well, useless.

Enter or import contacts. Now create an email. Type a users first name. Or last name. Check their name (ABC icon, or hit Ctrl-K). Or do a search for their email address. Really, it is totally crap. Sorry for the rant. Didn't get much better with version 2010. Haven't tried the Mac version, but why would I? I use a Mac at home, but am given no choice but to use Windows/Office ...at the office.

... the consumer will drive the corporate IT direction. You become an advocate or evangelist for a product or service as soon you as you plunk down your own hard earned cash. And if your boss is one of those people, then you have to listen. You can pull out all the charts or certifications or price lists you want, but you will be overridden.

Sales departments can convincingly demonstrate the usefulness of iPads for slick presentations while on sales visits. They are also very effective as promotional give aways for large purchases or prize drawings at seminars (sales pitches).

Corporate IT and department managers still have no interest in Macs, and rightly so. Macs do not integrate that well into Windows environments and the IT staff generally has zero training or experience with them. They tolerate them in the marketing and advertising departments where the users are more independent from the mainstream customer service, accounting and sales divisions.

In some instances when a particular user is very computer savvy and wants to bring their own Mac to work, IT will allow it, but for the most part, corporate computers will remain on Windows.

If you are a Mac person and are forced to work exclusively on Windows, maybe you need a different job.

Especially with browser based applications, which a lot of companies use for various reasons. The thing is most users, Mac or otherwise are point and clickers and really don't go past 'point and click' of what they do. So if they need to make changes to the browser settings, few companies have any real knowledge of how to accomplish that in the Mac OS environment.

Many places will not even try to walk a client through that, because the support centers don't have Macs and are not able to determine browser settings.

Having worked in support, I can tell you that a picture is worth a thousand words and about an hour on the phone, but walking someone through getting a screen shot on either a Mac or Windows has benefits and consequences on both, but they are vastly different.

If you look at the chart in the 5 years 2008 to 2013 Windows based device sales have stagnated at around $68 billion.

Apple products, on the other hand have grown from just $2 billion a year in 2008 to a projected $28 billion in 2013 i.e. from less than 3% of Windows in 2008 to over 41% in 2013.

I would hardly describe that performance as "nipping" at Windows heels!

Incidentally Outllook has been available on Macs for years - its part of the Mac Office Suite.

Check with CRM because they may have a Mac version of what you need. I know that they are making a big effort converting their stuff for iPads.

Say goodbye to the tedium and loss of productivity of Windows and join the modern era with Apple!

That's what Forrester now say having reversed their advice not to use Macs!

There's a difference between hardware sales and software sales. While I like iWork, the truth is that it's not a heavy duty suite. There are things for which Office is needed. Mac users agree, and Office sell very well to Mac users. So it's true, there are things that MS, primarily a software company, does pretty well, despite the jokes about some of its products.

Apple needs to upgrade Numbers pronto! I'm wondering if they even care anymore.

Hopefully Apple will get serious about the enterprisexand re-release the Xserve while continuing to update the Mac Pro.

I sure do hope they will update the Mac Pro, as I am waiting for an Express Bus 3 model with Ivy Bridge and a new graphics card, along with Thunderbolt, SATA 3, hopefully USB 3, and continued FireWire 800 (or better, though I doubt that will happen).

As for the XServe, may it rest in peace. Apple was never truly serious about those. They made them for Apple shops. Corporate was asking, for years, that Apple have an upgrade path to a 2 height or greater model, and blades, but Apple never wanted to go that route. Because of that, sales began to diminish, after a few years of strong growth. At one point it looked as though Apple could claim a good 5% of server sales, which would have been several billion a year. It's too bad they declined to go that route.

It's always possible that Cook, who is less antagonistic to large corporations, may look at it again, but with the integration of Macs into the Microsoft environment going as well as it has been with software updates to the OS from Apple, they may feel that it's all they really need, as Server handholding with companies is much greater with servers.

In addition, of course, with the very large sell through of iPads to corporate, with SAP, who recently bought over 12,500 for themselves, as well as 12,500 iPhones, saying that half of all iPad sales are to business, Apple may feel that they moving in anyway, and it's pulling OS X machines in as well. In that case, along with strong corporate iPhone sales, why bother having an additional line of products that may never be worthwhile?

Outlook good!??!!!? Microsoft Outlook is one of the worst applications ever. It is a bloated, slow pig. The mail interface is a complete disaster. Search is completely broken. And their CRM product is a complete joke? Have you every used these products? Salesforce is light years ahead of the Great Plains, i mean Microsoft CRM.

I agree with this 100 percent. If it were possible to agree with you 1000000 percent, I would. Outlook is a horrendous application. It's everything wrong with Microsoft rolled into a single application.

Apple products don't integrate easily, because of the monolithic nature of the windows franchise in most enterprise settings.

While I am staunchly pro-apple, pro-Linux, and my tech-savvy business partner is at least pro-Linux, we still can't avoid having one windows server in the office, or an IE-dependent "web application" for accounting.

Streamlining points the other direction. The reason to go Apple (in a heterogeneous setting) is to maintain flexibility.

The many stories out of the corporate world via the commercial computing/business publications such as Computerworld, E Week, Infoworld, Information Week, and others, shows that integrating client Macs into a Windows environment isn't too difficult anymore. Yes, there can be some hassles, here and there, but it's very different from where it was before 10.4. With each OS upgrade, it's been getting easier.

Sales departments can convincingly demonstrate the usefulness of iPads for slick presentations while on sales visits. They are also very effective as promotional give aways for large purchases or prize drawings at seminars (sales pitches).

Corporate IT and department managers still have no interest in Macs, and rightly so. Macs do not integrate that well into Windows environments and the IT staff generally has zero training or experience with them. They tolerate them in the marketing and advertising departments where the users are more independent from the mainstream customer service, accounting and sales divisions.

In some instances when a particular user is very computer savvy and wants to bring their own Mac to work, IT will allow it, but for the most part, corporate computers will remain on Windows.

If you are a Mac person and are forced to work exclusively on Windows, maybe you need a different job.

That's not really true anymore, and I'm getting tired of hearing it. Is it perfect? Well, no, but then, it can be a problem getting Windows clients working properly in a Windows environment. There have been big steps over the past few years.

And a lot of this is not because of BYOD. Corporations are finding this worthwhile.

I've seen many surveys over the years suggesting the uptick for Apple within the enterprise environment. As before, nothing happened. Apple remains below the double digit mark. Remember folks that this is just a survey. It doesn't have any factual basis for these companies to actually buy Apple products. As proven for the last 10 years, market share remains well below 10 worldwide.

I've seen many surveys over the years suggesting the uptick for Apple within the enterprise environment. As before, nothing happened. Apple remains below the double digit mark. Remember folks that this is just a survey. It doesn't have any factual basis for these companies to actually buy Apple products. As proven for the last 10 years, market share remains well below 10 worldwide.

lol! Yourself, but the numbers don't lie. The Mac HAS been taken up in business in a much bigger way as time has gone one.

Years? You mean since last year? Microsoft also dragged their heels for 6 months after launch and Outlook couldn't sync with any devices (except via exchange). They finally fixed that last spring. Office 2011 was the first with Outlook though. To say otherwise as you did suggests you don't really know what you're talking about.

Outlook -> Entourage -> Outlook
Apart from the name change, Office for mac has always had a Microsoft email client with near identicle functionality. 2011 was not the first.

What was it you were saying about not knowing what you're talking about?

I've seen many surveys over the years suggesting the uptick for Apple within the enterprise environment. As before, nothing happened. Apple remains below the double digit mark. Remember folks that this is just a survey. It doesn't have any factual basis for these companies to actually buy Apple products. As proven for the last 10 years, market share remains well below 10 worldwide.

A single PC vendor to have the kind of market share Apple does is still very impressive.

A single PC vendor to have the kind of market share Apple does is still very impressive.

It's amazing when people suggest that Apple, a HW vendor, can't be successful unless they have the marketshare of someone like MS. Even if they had 49% OS marketshare Slappy would still call them a loser yet they would have more than Dell and HP combined and be taking about 98% of the profits if everything else held the same. Obviously to any rational person that an impossibility.

This bot has been removed from circulation due to a malfunctioning morality chip.

Outlook -> Entourage -> Outlook
Apart from the name change, Office for mac has always had a Microsoft email client with near identicle functionality. 2011 was not the first.

What was it you were saying about not knowing what you're talking about?

Sorry, you said Outlook has been in Office for Mac for years. It hasn't. Entourage was, but it was FAR different and inferior to Outlook. I can't believe my eyes, to see someone suggesting it had "near identical" functionality to Outlook. It was commonly seen (along with Excel) as a conspiracy by Microsoft to keep users from switching, it was so crappy.

You can't just say something specific and totally wrong, get called on it, and then switch it around to say the other person is at fault.

It's amazing when people suggest that Apple, a HW vendor, can't be successful unless they have the marketshare of someone like MS. Even if they had 49% OS marketshare Slappy would still call them a loser yet they would have more than Dell and HP combined and be taking about 98% of the profits if everything else held the same. Obviously to any rational person that an impossibility.

Sorry, you said Outlook has been in Office for Mac for years. It hasn't. Entourage was, but it was FAR different and inferior to Outlook. I can't believe my eyes, to see someone suggesting it had "near identical" functionality to Outlook. It was commonly seen (along with Excel) as a conspiracy by Microsoft to keep users from switching, it was so crappy.

You can't just say something specific and totally wrong, get called on it, and then switch it around to say the other person is at fault.

Outlook was in office 98. Entourage was introduced in 2001 and then back to outlook in 2011. I've checked the feature list, synchronisation was the only thing missing from entourage. It supported everything else - After that it's just stupid things like crappy forwarding of HTML emails and sending of vCards being a bit ham-handed. I'll give you the crappy excel in 2008. It really was terrible. But from what I've seen and used, 2004 and 2011 are on par with the windows counterparts.

Sorry, you said Outlook has been in Office for Mac for years. It hasn't. Entourage was, but it was FAR different and inferior to Outlook. I can't believe my eyes, to see someone suggesting it had "near identical" functionality to Outlook. It was commonly seen (along with Excel) as a conspiracy by Microsoft to keep users from switching, it was so crappy.

You can't just say something specific and totally wrong, get called on it, and then switch it around to say the other person is at fault.

Also, FYI. I was not the original poster who said it was in it for years.